1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to devices for easily moving a patient from one location in a bed to another location in that bed. More particularly, the present invention relates to patient-positioning devices designed to move the patient toward the head of the bed after having slid down toward the foot of the bed when the head of the bed has been elevated. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a patient-position device that can be operated by a single individual.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the introduction of beds which elevate the head, patients have had to be repositioned. A person in a hospital or nursing home often does not have the ability to lift or position themselves in the correct position for sleeping. In order to eat or read or watch television or sit up, a patient elevates the head of a standard type hospital bed. This elevation causes the person to slide down towards the foot of the bed. When the head of the bed is lowered to a flat position, the person is too low in the bed. That is, the person's head is not located near the head of the bed but is rather located somewhere between the head and the middle of the bed. The person is, in effect, placed in an uncomfortable position. For an injured or ill person, this poor positioning in bed generally results in an exacerbation, if only temporarily, of the underlying physical condition.
In order to alleviate this problem, the patient is generally re-positioned in the bed. The method currently used is for two or more of the nursing staff to come into the room and manually slide the patient up to the correct position. This is accomplished by holding the draw sheet and sliding the person up. The draw sheet is an extra sheet that is smaller and stronger than an average bed sheet. It fits under the heaviest part of a person and its sole purpose is positioning patients in bed. This method is time consuming in that it requires two members of the hospital staff to coordinate their efforts, and reduces the amount of time available to care for other patients. Naturally, this is compounded by the total number of patients requiring such re-positioning. This method is less than ideal for the patient because that patient may have to wait for a considerable period of time before the two hospital staff members are available to perform the task.
While the patient may be comforted through this two-person technique, it is often the case that one staff member will attempt the re-positioning, if only because of the difficulty in getting two caregivers in one location at the same time. In that situation it is not uncommon for the one person to over extend and cause a back injury to himself or herself. This problem has been observed in hospitals throughout the country. This leads to a loss of healthcare personnel availability and can be expensive for the employer-hospital. Of course, even with two people performing the re-positioning task, back injuries can still occur.
One attempt to solve this problem is a device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,657 issued to Stagg. Stagg describes a device designed to assist a caregiver in re-positioning a patient in bed. The device includes strapping that is attached to a fabric panel located between the patient and the bedsheet. The strapping is adjustable and it wraps around the mattress and is affixed to the movable bed support. When the bed is moved, the strapping is apparently designed to pull the fabric panel, and thus the patient, up toward the head of the bed.
There are several notable problems regarding the Stagg design. These problems are associated with the use and location of the adjustable strapping. Stagg indicates that the strapping may be adjusted so that the full use of the mattress length may be realized. This is apparently intended to accommodate patients of different sizes and patients who start out in different positions on the bed prior to re-positioning. The problem with this adjustability is that it requires additional effort from the caregiver. Further, the strapping is two different pieces that must be adjusted in unison in order to insure that the patient will be drawn upward uniformly. That may be a difficult proposition in every instance. A secondary problem related to the Stagg strapping is the location of the strapping. It is designed to be placed over the mattress head and affixed to the bedframe below. As the bed moves, the strapping moves with it, and the fabric panel is supposed to move with that. Unfortunately, there is some initial give in the mattress so that the mattress will first be squeezed by the strapping before the fabric panel actually moves. This will reduce the total distance available for re-positioning the patient. While Stagg indicates that a rigid component may be added to the system to reduce this effect, that is one additional component to apply, one that may easily be removed or forgotten by a harried caregiver.
In addition, by wrapping the strapping directly around the mattress, Stagg limits the total positioning distance available. The fulcrum for movement is the edge of the mattress head. It would be much more effective to provide the fulcrum beyond that point so as to increase the available distance to move the patient and to optimize the force applied by the movement of the bed. A final and distinct problem with the Stagg device is the apparent lack of safety means for insuring that the device will be incapacitated in the event the caregiver leaves the patient without disabling the device.
Therefore, what is needed is a patient re-positioning device that may be operated by a single individual and that is designed to take advantage of the maximum possible distance available to re-position the patient within the confines of the existing bed design. What is also needed is a patient re-positioning device that is easy to operate and that includes a safety feature to halt operation of the device when desired.